Zach Britton, Brandon McCarthy and week 2’s big pitching matchups

Last week I made some suggestions about which pitchers to put out there for your fantasy rosters. Let’s see how they fared:

Justin Verlander blew past Baltimore like I thought he would. He gave up only 3 runs in 8 innings while striking out 9, then he threw a complete game loss to Texas at home giving up 2 runs and striking out 4. Jeremy Hellickson pitched 5.2 innings and gave up 3 earned runs in a loss to the Angels, but he struck out a career high ten batters. Francisco Liriano is still trying to figure things out and like I said, his start against the Yankees was sure to be a bumpy one. He lasted just 5 innings and surrendered 4 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks. with 5 K’s. Carlos Carrasco was great in his turn at Seattle, he allowed 1 run in 6 innings with 6 K’s. Jordan Zimmerman was fine against the Mets as he allowed 2 runs in 5.1 innings with 4 K’s and no BB’s, but his real test is on Thursday, April 14 against the hot hitting Phillies.

John Danks faces light hitting Oakland at home. He only faced the A’s once in 2010 and didn't have great success, but he is great at home and the A’s offense has tripped itself up out of the gate in 2011. He strikes out more hitters than most do and pitches for a great lineup that is sure to get him a win..

Ervin Santana goes up against a surprisingly potent Cleveland Offense, but he is no slouch. He went undervalued in many drafts as evidenced by his 48.7% ESPN ownership, but he is coming off two great starts in 2011. He went 6.2 and 8 innings giving up just 3 runs in each game and striking out 6 and 7. People fail to realize he was a 17 game winner last year with a sub-4.0 ERA. If you can pick Santana up I would not hesitate to.

Thursday, April 14

Zach Britton is slated to start against the Yankees in New York but don’t hit the drop button just yet. In his previous start against Texas he threw 7.2 scoreless frames allowing just 4 hits while striking out a pair of Rangers. He is a highly-touted prospect and is pitching for a rejuvinated Baltimore club, if you’ve got him let him start against the bombers on Thursday, If not you should definitely try to grab him before someone else does.

Friday, April 14

Brandon McCarthy takes the Hill against the Detroit Tigers. After several years of struggling to establish himself, the A’s new fifth starter seems to have found himself in a groove in the MLB’s most talented young rotation. By throwing 7.1 and 8 innings in his first two starts and striking out 7 compared to 1 walk in that time, McCarthy is solidifying himself in the No. 5 spot in Oakland’s rotation and is quickly finding his way onto fantasy rosters everywhere. And for those of you who like a good chuckle, follow him on Twitter, he is really quite funny.

Erik Bedard faces the Royals and is a very low risk/high reward pitcher. He is available in almost any league and may be a great option for a spot start or those in deeper leagues looking for cheap points. He has 200 strikeout talent, but an injury risk that is equally high. He may take a while to find his pitching legs again, but a start against Kansas City just might do the trick.

Sunday, April 17

Michael Pineda goes against the Royals and could do some serious damage. This high profile prospect made a splash in his major league debut against Texas last week and kansas City isn’t nearly as deadly as the Rangers. He has a big strikeout potential. Go grab him.

Clayton Richard starts fresh against the Astros. His last start was cut short due to a rain delay but his next start shouldn’t worry anyone. Richard had a solid 2011 debut in which he threw 6 innings of 3-run ball with 3 strikeouts. Houston’s offense isn’t scaring anyone and starting Richard against them shouldn’t either.